Liverpool Football Clubs historic Anfield home redevelopment was plunged into uncertainty in regards to its completion date when lead developer Buckingham Group halted trading after search for a saviour failed.
Major contractor Buckingham Group has stopped trading and in doing so became the largest contractor to do so since Carillion’s collapse in January 2018, which also impacted the city and the Royal Hospital Development.
The £665m-turnover firm, which has Liverpool FC’s new Anfield Road Stand among its ongoing projects, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on 16th August.
A statement from the company said it had suffered deep losses on three unnamed stadium and arena contracts, as well as a “substantial earthworks job” in Coventry.
A statement from the firm said: “Over several months and right up to this week, the board has worked with specialist advisors to seek to bring substantial new investment into the business that would have enabled the company to continue trading as a going concern without interruption. However, this initiative has ultimately met without success.”
Liverpool set to lose millions after Anfield redevelopers cease trading
Liverpool Football Club admit they do not know when the redevelopment of their Anfield home will be completed after the Buckingham Group ceased trading and filed a notice to appoint administrators.
An £80m upgrade to the club’s Anfield Road Stand which is due to increase capacity to 61,000 had already been hit by delays when the Buckingham Group announced it was in financial difficulties last month.
Building work that Liverpool had hoped would be completed by October has now been abruptly halted and chief executive Billy Hogan has refused to put a timescale on when Liverpool’s home revamp might be resumed.
Other Liverpool Developers to have Ceased Trading
Whilst the news of Liverpools Anfield home developer, Buckingham Group ceasing trade may come as a shock to many Liverpool fans around the world, sadly, the failure of a property developer in Liverpool, is just a case of the same news but a different day to many Liverpool residents.
With a litany of stalled developments blighting the Liverpool landscape in recent years and some very high profile Liverpool homes developers ceasing trading, be the company in its entirety or as in most cases the Special Purpose Vehicle companies often put in place to deliver a development, there is no escaping stalled buildings across the city centre and further afield into the suburbs.
Perfect Storm for Liverpool Property Developers and their Investors
With an already precarious property market, rising inflation hitting material costs and runaway borrowing costs it is just a miracle that many more Liverpool home developers and property developers havent ceased trading, given the current economic climate.
Whilst some developers use the more traditional route and complete a development from a mixture of cash and borrowing, albeit through a Special Purpose Vehicle company, in Liverpool and across the UK many many investors have been let down from stalled property development projects that have stalled, owing millions of ‘off plan’ owners and investors out of pocket.
